A BATHURST team comprising mainly under 21s players edged out the touring Foresters Cricket Club from South Africa by just five runs in a tightly contested one-day match at the Sportsground on Wednesday.
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Bathurst looked like they hadn’t given their rivals a big enough target to chase when they were bowled out for just 119 but with solid bowling and fielding, as well as some help from a slow outfield, they were able to stop their opponents five runs short of the target.
Ben Curran took a catch between deep mid-wicket and long on to give Peter McCleary his fourth wicket of the day and kill-off a 10th wicket stand that had yielded 18 runs and looked like it would produce a last-gasp win for the visitors.
Bathurst won the toss and elected to bat first and while it was obvious that boundaries were going to be hard to come by, the home team were patient early and
prepared to take singles to progress their score.
McCleary was the first to go for three and Josh Toole followed soon after for four.
Ben Trevor-Jones and Brendan Inwood looked to be heading towards a very good partnership until Inwood smashed a ball back to the bowler, who was able to get a finger to it before it hit the stumps, running out Trevor-Jones on 15.
Inwood went on to make 16 while Max Hope provided the backbone of the innings, batting for a long time as the total slowly climbed before he was eventually stumped on 17.
A late knock of 13 from John Rudge got the score up to 119.
Ryan Dugmore was the best of the South African bowlers, finishing with 3-25 off 10, while Phillip Davis also took 3-19 off eight.
In their reply, South Africa started confidently and a third wicket partnership between Justin Sammons (11) and Bryan Patel (20) increased the total by 33 runs.
Alex Miller and Max Hope were able to stop the partnerships from gaining too much momentum, both taking wickets, but South Africa were still looking strong at 6-89 before Peter McCleary struck.
He trapped Robin Arkell for four to break a 30-run partnership before Hope claimed the crucial wicket of Brian Jacklin on 26.
From there, McCleary cleaned up, finishing with 4-13 off eight overs, while Max Hope and Alex Miller both picked up doubles.
“We won the toss and everything looked okay. There was a slow outfield but we had a good start. I didn’t think it would be enough but to their credit they were able to defend it,” Bathurst coach Scott Inwood said.
Inwood had plenty of praise for his bowlers, who were able to keep it tight enough to pull off the unlikely victory.
“Alex Miller was a bit expensive off his first three overs with 1-24 but then he came back really well to finish with 2-32 off eight overs and the spin twins, Max Hope and Peter McCleary, came on and both bowled really well,” he said.
“Max bowled without luck more than anything and ended up with 2-22 off 10 and Peter McCleary took 4-13.”
